Abstract

On the 3 December 2008 South Africa's new Minister of Defence Charles Nqakula announced in his first high-profile statement since taking up his post that South Africa is to destroy its 'relatively small stockpile of outdated cluster munitions'. Nqakula make the statement from Oslo, Norway, at the signing ceremony of an historic new international treaty, the Convection on Cluster Munitions, which bans the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions.